1/30/26 - ICE violence, Medicaid cuts, and US education history

Good afternoon ...

I've been wrestling with life complications over the last few days. But everything is more or less sorted out now. So let's catch up a bit!

AAPD Resources and News Sources Amidst ICE Violence

AAPD Press Team, American Association of People with Disabilities - January 28, 2026

This is a helpful list of position statements and informational articles on how ICE's deportation actions in the US are affecting people with disabilities. It's possibly notable that it's not exactly a position statement by the American Association of People with Disabilities. It's more of a resource guide or index. But the AAPD's positioning on the issue is pretty easy to figure out based on its choice of links to include. Also, have a look at the action alert below, also shared by AAPD, to help do something about ICE's "activities."

‘I’d Be Left Alone’: Medicaid Cuts Put Disabled Patients’ In-Home Care at Risk

Hyeyoon Cho, KQED - January 18, 2026

"The White House has said the budget package would not affect Medicaid coverage for people with disabilities. Advocates warn the changes will nonetheless fall heavily on home- and community-based services, which aren’t protected like nursing home services. They say optional services are often the first to be reduced."

Here's an important reminder that Medicaid cuts are still coming, and are still likely to be a disaster for a lot of disabled people in the US. This piece specifically focuses on the likely impact on home care – which doesn't have to be explicitly cut by the federal government to be severely cut in the end by states that get squeezed by the broader cuts in federal Medicaid funding. The Trump administration and its allies in Congress have cut Medicaid, but left it to states to bring the hammer down on specific populations for whom cuts are arguably less popular – like people with disabilities. This is also one of the many reasons to pay as much attention to state officials running for election or reelection in 2026 as we do to the higher-profile battle for control of Congress.

Before Special Ed, There Was the School-to-Asylum Pipeline. How One Lawsuit Helped End It

Beth Hawkins, The74 - December 18, 2025
Source: Julia Bascom's Facebook page

"Eventually, they should ask the courts to close the facility. But the first task, Gilhool told his new clients, was to establish disabled children’s right to an education ... Prohibiting schools from using asylums as dumping grounds was the initial step toward shutting down the pipeline of new residents and triggering the creation of alternatives — including the classroom instruction that would help children fulfill their potential."

This part of the history of disability rights in education in the US was entirely new to me. I find it fascinating how opening up public education to disabled kids also helped move long term care and disability services away from institutions and towards home and community-based support. This background is especially important in light of the latest threats to drastically reshape the management of educational rights for kids with disabilities today – through the Trump administration's plan to eliminate the US Department of Education. Disability rights, disability justice, and disabled people's everyday lives really do rest on a Jenga tower. And the Trump administration is busy pulling out rods, and almost completely without care or delicacy.

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